


Elderberries

by clashofqueens



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: ASOS Spoilers, Dealing with death fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 21:58:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clashofqueens/pseuds/clashofqueens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At night, sometimes, he smells elderberries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elderberries

Elderberries. He smells elderberries as a warm mouth presses against his chest, and Galbart grinned widely.

“What exactly are you smiling about.” The voice is warm and familiar and it makes his heart ache for some reason as he opens his eyes lazily.

“You smell good is all.”

“I smell good?” Smacking him on the shoulder, Dacey gapes down at him. “I wake you up so nicely - naked - I might add, and all you have to say is I smell good?”

A lock of her hair is twisted aimlessly between his fingers, and he just grins up at her with a lazy grin. “You smell good. Like elderberry flowers… I remember once, your sisters crowned you Queen of Bear Island with a crown of elderberry flowers. Ever since then, I smell elderberries and I think of you.”

“Well then… I guess that’s rather romantic, isn’t it?” Her fingers trace aimlessly over his face as she grows rather solemn and a sadness seems to appear in her eyes. “You’ve gotten soft and gushy in your old age. I like the gray hair… you look very lordly, my love.” 

“You look gorgeous… haven’t even aged a day…” Frowning, he realizes that’s wrong. Of course she’d be gorgeous still, but there were no wrinkles around her eyes, no grey creeping into her dark hair. Dacey was too young, younger even than Lyanna when last he saw her. “Not one day…”

“Because I’m dead darling.”

His hand clenches on her waist instinctively, holding her against him even as the words ring true in his mind.

Freys, a wedding and a betrayal. And Dacey gone forever.

“You’re not, don’t be stupid.” Even as he denies it, the smell of her slips away, the room around them fading slight. “You’re right here, with me.”

“Shhhh, shhh darling… it’s alright, being dead isn’t too bad.. rather dull though.” The laugh is flat, and she presses closer to him, trying to stay with him a few minutes longer. “Are you happy? Please tell me you’re happy, I couldn’t bear it if you weren’t.” Her voice cracks and wavers, and Dacey nibbles on her lip that way that’s always made his heart ache.

“How could I ever be happy without you?”

She kisses him then, and he coaxes her mouth open quickly, trying foolishly to breath life back into her. She’s a dream, a figment of his mind, but Dacey feels real, is real in this moment. “You have to figure it out, darling… you have to, or I’ll haunt you forever.”

What’s left of his heart shatters, and Galbart buries his face in her neck. “Not exactly a good incentive, Dace.”

The room’s faded around them now, and he can feel himself slipping away - starting to wake up to a world without her. “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You haven’t lost me, I’m waiting for you. I love you.”

His eyes snap open to the familiar ceiling of his chambers, silent and cold and ever so empty. If he concentrates enough, for the barest moment Galbart can imagine the scent of elderberries hanging in the air. ”I love you too.”


End file.
